Sketch, annotate, and teach — together, in real time.
Vacademy's live whiteboard (powered by Excalidraw) gives teachers and learners a shared infinite canvas inside every live class. Draw diagrams, work through math, brainstorm with sticky notes, annotate slides — all collaboratively, all saved back into the lesson for replay.
- Real-time multi-user · cursors + presence
- Math · code · diagrams · sticky notes
- Saves back into the slide deck
- Excalidraw under the hood
- Teacher · pen
- Sara · viewing
- Aarav · sticky
Why teams switch
The status quo is costing your team time and money
Talking heads kill engagement
Most online classes are a teacher monologue over slides. Learners disengage in 5–8 minutes; replays go unwatched. There's no shared workspace to actually *do* something together.
Zoom/Meet whiteboards are toys
Native whiteboards in video tools are afterthoughts — laggy, limited tools, no save-back, no integration with course material. Teachers end up using paper and a webcam.
Math and diagrams die in slides
Pre-built slides can't react to a learner's confusion. You can't draw an extra arrow, work through a step they're stuck on, or pull a new example without breaking the deck.
Inside the canvas
Draw, annotate, save — together
Real teaching canvas with tools rail, multi-user cursors, LaTeX, sticky notes, and one-click save-as-slide.
- Teacher · pen
- Sara · viewing
- Aarav · sticky
How a whiteboard session runs
From blank canvas to saved teaching artefact
Whiteboard lives inside Live Sessions but can also be standalone. Multi-cursor, infinite canvas, with a real undo / redo history. Every state change is persisted, so reconnect-safe.
Open the board mid-class
Switch any slide into 'whiteboard mode' with one click, or open a new infinite board. Teacher and learners (if permitted) see each other's cursors with names.
Draw, annotate, collaborate
Pen, shapes, text, sticky notes, arrows, images, LaTeX math, code blocks. Teachers can lock parts; learners can be invited to draw on a section.
Persist as a slide
Save the canvas back as a new slide in the deck. Next class re-uses it; absent learners see exactly what was drawn during the live class.
Replay-able + searchable
Replay shows the canvas state at each moment. Search the canvas content (text + LaTeX) later — the board is queryable, not a flat image.
What's inside
A real teaching canvas — built for explanation
Excalidraw-powered
Battle-tested infinite canvas with shapes, text, freehand pen, arrows, images, sticky notes, frames, and group selection. Lightweight, fast, never feels like a CAD tool.
Multi-user, real-time
Multiple participants draw on the same board with live cursor presence. Configurable per-session — teacher-only, full collaboration, or invite-specific learners.
LaTeX + code blocks
Drop math formulas (rendered live), code blocks with syntax highlighting, and chemistry diagrams. The whiteboard is built for actual subjects, not just doodles.
Annotate any slide
Drop the whiteboard layer onto any slide and annotate live. Learners replay the slide later and see exactly what was scribbled over what.
Save back into the course
End-of-class one-click save converts the canvas into a new slide attached to the chapter — instant teaching artefact for next batch.
Reconnect-safe
Canvas state lives on the server. Network blip, mobile suspend, browser refresh — everyone reconnects to the exact same state, no canvas loss.
What changes in week 1
Active learning at scale, without retraining teachers
Avg participation rate when whiteboard is used vs slides-only sessions.
Concepts taught via whiteboard recall 5× higher in 1-week retention tests.
Server-side state means refreshes never lose work — even for the teacher.
Interactive replays with whiteboard state get watched longer than flat video.
Wired into the platform
Whiteboard isn't a side tool — it's teaching content
Saved canvases become first-class teaching assets, replayable in chapters, searchable in the library, and shareable on parent digests.
Auto-save the canvas at session end as a slide in the corresponding chapter.
Attach the whiteboard snapshot to the parent / mentor recap WhatsApp.
Surface the canvas in the next-class Lecture Planner as the prior teaching state.
Index canvas text + LaTeX so learners can search 'where did teacher draw quadratic graph?'
Built for every team
Who actually uses the whiteboard
STEM Teachers
- Work through math + physics problems live, with no slide constraints
- Annotate prebuilt slides when learners get stuck
- Save sketches as next-batch teaching material
Coding Instructors
- Diagram system architectures with the class collaboratively
- Whiteboard-style algorithm walkthroughs with code blocks
- Run mock-interview whiteboarding sessions for placements
Creative / Design Educators
- Run brainstorm sessions with sticky notes + frames
- Critique student work with annotated sketches
- Build mood boards collaboratively
Customer spotlight
JEE Physics teacher · Chapter 7 — Rotational dynamics
“Pre-built slides could never react to where my students got confused. The Vacademy whiteboard lets me pause, draw an extra free-body diagram on the fly, save it as a slide, and re-use it next batch. My students went from passive notebooks to active collaboration in the same call.”
— Senior Physics Faculty, JEE Coaching
Frequently asked
Common questions from buyers
How is this different from Zoom or Google Meet's whiteboard?+−
Vacademy's whiteboard saves back into your course material (not a temporary file), supports LaTeX + code, is reconnect-safe, has fine-grained per-user permissions, and integrates with Live Sessions polling + attendance. Zoom's whiteboard is a draw pad that disappears when the call ends.
Does it work on tablets and phones?+−
Yes. Touch + stylus input works on iPads, Android tablets, and phones. We support Apple Pencil pressure sensitivity for teachers who draw on iPads.
Can learners draw too, or only the teacher?+−
Configurable per session. Default is teacher-only. Teachers can grant draw permission to specific learners (e.g. for solve-on-board exercises) or open the canvas to everyone.
Is the whiteboard searchable later?+−
Yes. Text and LaTeX on the canvas are indexed. Learners can search 'where did we cover Bayes' theorem?' across every saved canvas in the library.
Can we use the whiteboard without Live Sessions?+−
Yes. Open a standalone whiteboard for 1:1 sessions, brainstorms, async drawings, or mentoring without a full live class scaffold. Each board has its own URL, version history, and access controls.
Explore the platform
Pairs well with
From flat slides to collaborative canvas
Spin up a whiteboard live with us — bring a tricky concept.
Pick one concept that always confuses your students. In a 30-min session we'll teach it together on the Vacademy whiteboard and save the canvas as a sample slide for your course.